Everything You Need To Know About Being A College Student

College can be one of the best experiences of your life meeting new friends, moving to another state, parties, sports, college clubs, and more. Your anxiety is high because it is either moving day or coming close to the day you have to move in. Getting to campus and trying to figure out where all of your classes are, who is in the class, and wondering what the professor is like.

Everything is going well until you see the price of each book needed for your classes. Then you remember that you have to provide for yourself if your parents can't help financially because they are paying tuition. You also look at the syllabus and see how much work you have to do.

This is where the stress kicks in. This is where my experience and advice come to play. I lived both on and off-campus during my college career and I am also a transfer student so I can give you a better analysis of what to expect during your four years at a university.

The perception of college

In high school many teachers talk about the struggles of college and how it is going to be a reality check. This kind of perception install's fear and I am here to tell you that it is not true.

In high school I remember teachers telling us how hard college is and how professors wouldn't take late work, we would have to write a lot of papers, professors wouldn't allow us to come in late, how we would be kicked out of the classroom for using our phones and more. While this is true it rarely happens in college.

Many professors understand that you're a college student and may need extra time to complete an assignment. In most cases, if you turn in an assignment late the professor would take a few points off of your overall grade on the assignment. For the most part, a lot of professors that I have had in my four-year experience have all been understanding and cool.

Many of you will be glad to hear this yes you have to write papers but, it won't be much. Through your experience, you'll see that there aren't as many paper assignments as you thought. The most pages I had to write by myself were 10 pages and that is this year, my last year. Don't stress yourself out about how many paper assignments you get. 

Professors don't care if you're on your phone during class, you'll see a lot of students who are on their laptops or phones during class. If you are going to be on your phone I suggest you sit in the middle or in the back of the classroom out of respect for the professor.

The perception of how hard college is, even stretches to people who have never even attended college.  We should get rid of this stigma because I believe it deters people away from attending college especially students who struggled through high school. The fear of college stems from the perception of workload which later on I will discuss later on.

Making new friends in college

Many of you may be moving away from home or commuting to campus, it may seem awkward for a moment but, once you start talking to people it will start to get more comfortable.

There are many ways you can make friends on campus, one way is orientation. Both of the colleges I attended had 3 days of orientation that is mandatory. During orientation you will be assigned to a group normally you would have a name tag with your name and your group name. Your group will walk around campus to different buildings and play games to get to know each other.

At orientation don't be shy and remember that everyone else there is in the same position you are. They may be shy so sometimes you will have to start the conversation even if you're shy. Ask for a social media platform and follow each other or ask them what building they are staying in. This goes for commuters as well get to know people.

Another you'll make friends is by getting to know your roommate. You will be living together so you mine as well become friends and your roommate may introduce you to their friends. The final way to make friends are through sports doesn't matter if you're on the sports team or club team you will still be able to make connections with people.

The stress that college expenses can have on a parent and a student

Expenses play a big factor in the struggles of college students and the perception of college. I'll give you ways on how to make and save money while in college.

College expenses can stress out parents as well as students. Some parents can barely afford to pay tuition especially if it is out-of-state tuition. This could affect the budget that they have to live on and they may not be able to provide books or money for hygiene products for their children. This leads students to fend for themselves and can be stressful to them as well.

If you're going to college especially out of state make sure you fill out job applications. You may think that balancing a job and school is difficult but, it's not. I say this because most day student's classes end around 3:30 pm at max unless your taking evening classes. From 3:30 pm until 12 am depending on when you go to bed you have free time.

Working 4 days a week between 4-5hrs shouldn't affect your academics at all. You can fill out applications for jobs on and off campus the only disadvantage for jobs on campus are that they are semester-long so you would have to re-apply. Apply for work-study which is a job but, your checks go towards your college expenses like books, tuition, etc.

If you are leaving high school apply for as many scholarships as you can any amount of money is helpful. If you are receiving financial aid and it is not enough you can ask the school for more financial help. Just fill out a special circumstance for explaining your family's financial situation the school will provide extra grant money.

Budget your money! please it will help you in the long run trust me. Finally don't you EVER EVER EVER! pay full price for books. The cheapest way to get your books is by renting them, get a digital copy or paperback copy, and look at websites like Pearson, Chegg, and Amazon. You may even be able to find a free pdf copy of your book online.

I am honestly telling you this because sometimes you could go through your whole semester class without even opening your book and that would be a couple of hundred dollars down the drain. Trust me on this I learned the hard way freshman year.

You make your class schedule

In college you make your schedule it is your responsibility to get to class and it is also your responsibility to schedule the right classes for the following semester.

When you're in college even as a commuter your mother and father aren't going to wake you up for school because they most likely don't know your schedule and it is your responsibility after high school to get up and go to class. If you're not a morning person do not schedule an 8 am class unless its the only required course available. 

You have the choice to go to class or not, usually, professors will allow you to have three free absences that you can use for the semester. You could also wear what you want as long as it is not inappropriate. I wore Pajamas to class, tank-tops, and bedroom slippers. You could also eat in class as long as you're not being distractive then you're fine.

You're first semester as a freshman or transfer student the school makes your schedule for you. You could drop and add classes if you want but, make sure that the credits do not go over the amount you're supposed to have. If it does then you will have to pay more money out of pocket because your tuition wouldn't cover the cost of the extra class.

Finally, make sure you speak with your advisor about your classes so that you will be able to schedule the classes you need. 

Work load and procrastination can make your college experience suck

Procrastination will make all of the perceptions about college true. When you're in college you don't have your parents on your back about homework or studying. Even the professors don't get on your back about due dates because once they give you the syllabus and announce the due date it's your responsibility to remember to do the assignments.

Factors of procrastination are the due date is far away, social life, laziness, other assignments, and putting it off until you feel like doing it. I've been affected by all of this personally like, going to parties because sometimes you need a break but, this won't help you at all. Even though parties are fun make sure you do at least a third of the work.

Procrastination can have you stressed out and have you pulling all-nighters. You may have two big assignments due at the same time because you procrastinated. If you want college to be a breeze do not procrastinate too often. Get the work done little by little if you want to procrastinate at least you will have some of the work done. 

Make sure you manage your time for each assignment that you have for different classes if you do that then your success in college will come easy.

Conclusion

College isn't as hard as everyone makes it seem to be honest for me it was a breeze. Not as much work as I expected but, it does get challenging sometimes. Don't let the challenging parts of college startle you just keep pushing because when you're in college time flies by quickly. I hope you were able to pick up a few things from this blog. Everything that was discussed here are real experiences that I have had as a commuter and an on-campus resident and also as a student who went to two different universities.